What do you do when your association’s revenue goes flat? It may be time to diversify your revenue stream beyond membership dues. Here are four ideas to breathe new life into your association’s earnings.

You work hard to develop programs that deliver value for your members. But what do you do when your association’s revenue goes flat? It may be time to diversify your revenue stream beyond membership dues.

Here are four ideas to breathe new life into your association’s earnings:

Job boards

In our Member Loyalty Study, the Community Brands team found that job opportunities top the list as one of the most valued member benefits. Consider beefing up your job board software so you can not only attract more members and improve member retention, but also increase non-dues revenue. For example:

Offer employers more sophisticated options that maximize exposure of their job postings to improve their return on investment and, in turn, your revenue

Increase engagement and job views by recommending opportunities to job seekers based on their prior searches

Automatically send jobs to interested, relevant job seekers via email

Online store

Another way to diversify your association’s revenue stream is to promote various products via an online store. For example, offer everything from branded merchandise and event registrations to donations and other non-dues items. At the same time, promote and manage membership dues within the convenience of the online store.

Mobile app and push notifications

Go beyond emails to reach members where they are. Promote all of your revenue-generating programs ― from non-dues programs to membership renewals ― using a mobile app and push notifications. For example, notify members when your event registration opens or when you have a new research offering in your online store, and remind them when their membership is up for renewal.

Deliver the offline learning experience online

Take the great content you already have pulled together for in-person events and extend it online to provide a convenient, affordable option that many of your members may be seeking. In turn, offering online learning experiences — whether they’re one-day seminars or multi-day conferences — provides your organization with perks. For example:

Bring in revenue that you otherwise would not capture from members who are unable to attend your in-person events.

Stretch your on-site content further by repurposing it online — through livestreaming your on-site event or offering it on-demand after the event.

Meet the needs of more of your members, offering an alternative to on-site events for those whose schedule, budget, learning preferences or other factors would prevent them from attending an in-person event.